


muzzled and caged

by tigriswolf



Series: Alternate Universe [131]
Category: Buffy the Vampire Slayer
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon, Enemies, Gen, Implied Torture, Mad Science, Minor Violence, Plans, Season/Series 04, the only good enemy is a dead enemy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-03-17
Updated: 2013-03-17
Packaged: 2017-12-05 13:05:40
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 250
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/723622
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tigriswolf/pseuds/tigriswolf
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>They seem to think that the pain will be enough to stop him.  [AU during season 4]</p>
            </blockquote>





	muzzled and caged

**Author's Note:**

> Title: muzzled and caged  
> Fandom: “Buffy the Vampire Slayer”  
> Disclaimer: not my characters; just for fun.  
> Warnings: spoilers and AU for season four  
> Pairings: none  
> Rating: PG  
> Wordcount: 250  
> Point of view: third

They seem to think that the pain will be enough to stop him. They forget, if they ever knew, that pain is something a body can become accustomed to—and they don’t know that for the first twenty years of his unlife, he belonged to Angelus. No human invention will ever equal to the pain Angelus taught him to enjoy.

Once he learns the triggers, the tiny piece of metal and electricity is easy to circumvent. He is not the creature he was before, but neither is he helpless. He hunts for fresh blood, but he leaves the humans alive, and the Slayer never knows.

She is simple to fool, only giving faith to what she sees. The Watcher should know better—a grandchilde of Angelus, felled by scientists? But it’s been so long since a _true_ reign of Angelus, the Council has forgotten. Those months of madness culminating in Acathla were _not_ Angelus, his mad, brilliant grandsire, only a pale shadow.

He lets them believe he lives by their sufferance, never giving a hint that the muzzle in his brain only offers a slight hesitation anymore. He is learning to navigate around it.

Four months after his escape, he kills a man on the street, and the chip doesn’t give so much as a jolt. He feasts that night, painting himself in blood.

He leaves Sunnydale after cleaning up the mess. He’ll be back, though, to teach the girl-child Slayer why a _true_ hunter never leaves an enemy chained.


End file.
